Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 3421548" data-attributes="member: 94">Simply by nature of the d20 system. Let's take, for example, a Cloak of Resistance +3 found at 8th level and kept until 20th level.At 8th level, a +3 bonus represents 33% of this character's "good" save and 60% of his "poor" save. (6+3=9 and 2+3=5, respectively.)At 20th level, that same cloak represents 20% of his "good" save and 30% of his "poor" save. (12+3=15 and 6+3=9, respectively.)Remember, we're talking about Sundering an item here and there, not stripping all the wealth off a character (or an entire party) at once.Wow, you've sundered the hell out of that poor schmuck. But let's see...I'd put them at CR7 and CR6; in terms of power, 49 and 35. This puts the low-wealth fighter at a little over 70% of the combat output of the full-equipped character. In terms of EL, that's a difference of perhaps 1 EL.Actually, the ratio of power-to-power will be about the same, but the difference in EL will actually be decreased. A difference of 1 CR means more at low levels than it does at high levels.Let me cut through the math and put it to you this way:Who is at the greatest  disadvantage?A 1st level fighter against a 2nd level fighter?A 7th level fighter against an 8th level fighter?Or a 15th level fighter against a 16th level fighter?Remember, there's only a difference of 1 CR in all cases.The reason for this is because as CR increases, the amount of your total power that you can actually bring to bear within the economy of actions is limited. A higher level character can do more things, and he can do all things better, but he can't do significantly more per action than his foe. A greater proportion of his total power (his total CR) is comprised of things that he may never actually use within the confines of a single combat.Conversely a 2nd level character can't do as much, but the portion of his power that he can bring to bear in a single action is overwhelming when applied to a 1st level foe.Need another quick example?Let's take a +5 longsword. We can agree that this +5 longsword represents some finite amount of whupass, expressed as some chunk of a character's CR.In whose hands is the +5 longsword the greater proportion of whup-ass-itude?A 2nd level fighter vs. a typical 1st level foe?A 16th level fighter vs. a typical 15th level foe?In which combat is the outcome more dependent on any given d20 roll?In which combat is the outcome less dependent on any given d20 roll?Which combat is more resilient to random factors?</blockquote>

Verification